The 10 Most Important Modifications You Can Make To Your
Motorcycle: Part 1

Creating A Better Bike � One Step At A Time

Wouldn't it be nice to go to a dealer, select a bike, have it be
just perfect the way it is and never ever have to do anything other than
standard maintenance to it? Well guess what? That's probably
never going to happen, or if you think it already did, you may not
have considered certain modifications that will make the bike more
YOUR bike than just another xyz unit off the showroom floor.

There are hundreds of modifications you can make to a motorcycle.
Some are practical and some not so practical. There's nothing
practical about putting a louder pipe on your bike, adding a hot cam
kit, dolling it up with chrome and leather or installing a turbo
kit. All these things may make your bike prettier, louder or add horsepower, but if you like to ride the bike for a few hundred
miles each time you go out, there's a lot better way to spend your
money on upgrades so you can enjoy the ride for more hours and miles
each time you ride.

In 2004 I bought a stock bike off the showroom floor. I'm not
made of money, so I began doing as-needed modifications a short time
later, but just one or two each year as my budget allowed. The end
result is a far superior bike from the one I originally bought, that
fits me like a glove and is comfortable even after 500 miles in the
saddle in a single day. There is no one bike on the market that
offers that new, so take a look at the list and consider where you
might want to take your bike.

Modify Your Seat � I own several motorcycles. None of
them have a stock seat. Stock seats are designed for an average
type rider of the bike.
Whatever the
average size rider was determined for each of my bikes � I have
no idea. I just know that after a few hundred miles in a stock
seat my butt hurts, my hips hurt, my hands fall asleep and my
knees hurt, too.

Note the wide pan on this custom seat providing support evenly
across the rider's buttocks, relieving any stress points there may
have been in the stock seat.

So what's going on here? Turns out our bodies like certain
positioning over others when we sit for a long period of time.
Knees bent more than ninety degrees back start to ache if left
in that position too long. That's a common position on most
sport and standard bikes. But it can be cured by repositioning
the rider in the saddle.

Then there's the case of someone with a short inseam that can't
get their feet on the ground. Often times a good saddleman can
cure that issue by removing some of the foam from the original
seat and, in extreme cases, cutting out some of the seat pan
changing the width of the entire seat to a more manageable
narrower perch.

But suppose you're a bit round. You're going to need more foam
under your butt to distribute the weight of your body while sitting so it's not all focused into the inside of your
thighs, as is common with most stock seats.

Another aspect considered in building custom seats properly is
getting your elbows bent at about fifteen degrees with a slight
downward pointing position on your hands as they rest on the
bars. This allows blood flow into your palms to maximize
eliminating that annoying falling asleep of the hands as you
ride. If your hands are slightly bent in either direction from
your lower arm, blood flow gets constricted. A good saddleman
will consider this aspect as well while re-constructing YOUR
seat.

Granted, you won't get this kind of customization just ordering
a lock-stock-and barrel custom seat off the web like those made
by Corbin or Mustang. You'll need to take an appointment with a
true saddleman who can contour a seat to YOUR body. Personally -
I've had six seats made at
Rich's
Custom Seats
. It's my first stop after I buy a new bike.

But that's a lot of changes all rolled into seat modification,
and it just may be, due to your size and shape, ALL of them cannot
be dealt with. If we can solve the issues below the waist with a
seat mod, then there is another trick to solve the issues above
the waist. Read on to learn about bar risers.

Consider Adding Bar Risers � Considering my torso
length and reach, I was able to achieve the bent elbows and
straight arm/wrist combo by installing a set of bar risers onto
my bike. If you've never seen them before, bar risers are simply
extensions that raise the bars of your bike. They come is
various sizes so you can pick the one that suits you best.
Before you buy, you can actually determine what you need
beforehand by doing a simple fitment procedure.

The bar risers shown here raise the bars 2" allowing the
rider to bend their elbows a comfortable 15 degrees.

With the bike on its center stand, or having a friend holding
it upright, sit on the bike. If you had a custom seat made, your
legs should have no more than a ninety degree bend and if that's
the case, continue on. Otherwise, go back to step one before you
do this step.

Sit up straight with your back perpendicular and reach for the
bars, being certain to maintain a slight bend in your elbows. Can
you reach them? If so, you're done. But if you can't reach them,
determine how many inches away from the bars your hands are for
getting a grip. What's the distance between where the bars are
currently and where they need to be? In many cases the distance
is at an angle and that's no problem because good riders can be
angled as well. Whatever that distance is, that's how long your
bar risers will need to be.

But there's a catch here. If you change the location of the hand
controls, you may need to replace the brake lines with longer
lines and possibly some of the electrical connections coming up
to the grips. However, the latter rarely occurs except in extreme
cases of four or more inches depending on the bike and rider. If
your brake lines need to be extended, continue on to step three.

Upgrade Your Brakes & Brake Lines � One of the places
manufacturers tend to cut corners is on the quality of the
hydraulic brake lines they include on a bike. Often times,
middle of the road models ship with nothing more than a
rubberized brake line that will eventually crack and fail.
Converting your brake lines to the more popular braided style
(still uses a rubber hose) or the newer Kevlar lines is a sound
investment in you and your bike.

The sturdier Kevlar brake line shown here is half as thick as
a standard rubber brake line, yet twice as strong and won't
bulge when pressure is applied to the brake.

If you're adding bar risers, you'll need to order your new lines
to include the added length. Galfer will happily make you a set
and they are easy to order. Simply specify the year/make/model
for the front or rear brake line and then call out +#" to advise
them of the added length. In my case, I upgraded to Kevlar brake
lines on my 2004 Yamaha FZ6. Thus for the front I ordered
04/Yamaha/FZ6 +3" front, 04/Yamaha/FZ6 standard rear. Bingo �
the lines showed up and fit perfectly.

The Kevlar is much more reliable than rubber and won't expand
like rubber does when engaging the brakes, which can decrease
pressure on the pistons at the brake caliper and provide a
decrease in braking power.

Adjust Your Suspension or Replace It � Anytime you
buy a bike, take a look at the suspension and see how many
adjustments are available. If the bike is moderately priced,
typically you won't be able to make any adjustments on the front
and you'll only be able to set preload in the rear. Which is
about as close to useless as you can get. Furthermore, most
stock suspensions are kaput within a few years or less than
20,000 miles - whichever comes first.

Adding a greater amount of adjustability to your suspension,
through replacement of the stock shocks, means a smother and
ultimately a safer ride.

Suspension doesn't just kick in when you hit a bump. It occurs
when you enter a corner, when you exit, when you give the bike
throttle, when you decelerate and when you brake. Being able to
adjust preload, sag, dampening and other aspects of both your
front and rear suspension is going to result in a much smoother
ride and more cornering control.

This is a not a cheap modification, but if you really want to
notch your bike up, it's one worth doing. In the case of my bike,
we tossed the front and rear systems and replaced them with far
better equipment that had no less than four adjustment options
and a far longer lifespan.

Upgrade Your Tires � Some people will tell you to
always replace your tires with the manufacturer recommended
tires � likely the same kind the bike shipped with. Rubbish!

Note how the tread on these tires are designed to wick water
efficiently. A must for traction when you're riding in copious
amounts of rain.

Often a bike will ship and then a tire manufacturer will build a
tire around it to better provide traction, tread life and water
shedding. Case in point � when Honda shipped the GL1800 in 1999
it came with Dunlop tires and they still ship them with the same
tires today. In the meantime, Avon went to work on a far superior
tire and the result was less tire changes and better traction.

In the world of sport bikes, tire changes are fast and furious.
If you own an older sport bike, you can be sure there's far
superior product on the market today than what the bike
originally shipped with, so shop around and learn all you can.
Ditto for sport touring bikes, cruisers, dual sports, commuters
and even maxi scooters.

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